Pulse of Heroes

by A. Jacob Sweeny

  Michelle smiled a little when she realized that Elliot had been a perfect gentleman, where others might have taken advantage of her state, yet somehow she already knew that he was never going to harm her, although she had no idea why. Michelle needed to use the restroom and was glad to see that beyond the seating area there was a small private bathroom. Once she saw herself in the mirror she realized how bad she really looked, much worse than imagined. She was pale, had a large gash across her forehead, and a large black bruise on her collarbone that reached all the way to above her left breast. She inspected her arms and legs, and just as she had suspected they were completey battered and bruised. No wonder she hurt all over. She tried to find her shoes, only to remember that she had taken them off before climbing on those deadly rocks.

  Michelle guessed that it was early in the morning because it was still fairly dark outside. She wondered where Elliot was, but she was too uncomfortable to leave the room to look for him. So she circled the room looking at various items displayed in glass cases or hanging on the walls. She noticed that the glass vase that had gotten her in so much trouble was now prominently displayed in a small acrylic cube, with a brooch next to it that had a very familiar piece of glass in its center. How or where Elliot got a brooch that fit the glass disk exactly, Michelle had no idea, but at that moment that question wasn’t so important. So many tears over you, she thought, looking at the small vase. She then walked over to the door and put her ear to it, listening to see if anyone else was out there. She didn’t hear anything but she did smell something delicious, and realized that she was starving.

  Michelle wondered if she should go back to bed and try to fall sleep. Elliot was sure to return, and she definitely didn’t want to run into anyone else. What would the other students think? She didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings. But her curiosity got the better of her and she slowly and very carefully opened the door a little bit at a time. When she was convinced that there was no one in the hallway she quietly stepped out.

  The hallway was long and there were many other doors; Elliot’s room was at the far left end side of the house. Michelle made her way to the balcony and looked down into the living area, but there was no one there either. What she did notice was that the smell of whatever wonderful thing was cooking down there got even better the closer she got to the kitchen. Michelle leaned over the rail, trying to look into the kitchen from where she was standing. But it was directly underneath her; there was just no way. Michelle’s body still hurt with sharp stabbing pains along with the various dull aches, and when she straightened herself up she couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of pain. She grabbed the left side of her chest, trying to remain still long enough for the pain to pass. Michelle didn’t notice Kahl coming out of his room, and was completely startled when he bid her good morning.

  “Well, actually good evening,” he corrected himself. “You’ve been sleeping for almost an entire day,” he told her, still smiling. Michelle felt embarassed and apologized for looking so disheveled. But Kahl told her not to worry about it and asked her if she was hungry, suggesting that she join him downstairs for dinner. Michelle was too self-conscious to ask where Elliot was. She didn’t want to sound desparate, but luckily Kahl must have read her mind. “Elliot is downstairs. I’ll let him know you’re up.” And with that, Kahl disappeared downstairs.

  Michelle was still standing at the top of the stairs when Elliot appeared from the kitchen. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile. “You’ve already met Kahl,” he said while Michelle slowly came down the stairs.

  “Yes,” she whispered back shyly.

  “How are you feeling?” Elliot asked while he carefully checked the cut on her forehead.

  “I feel like I’ve been beaten up by a gang of giants. Especially here on my chest,” she answered, putting her hand over her heart. Elliot looked away from her because he didn’t want to reveal that he’d had anything to do with the large bruise.

  “Waves do act like giants at times,” he replied.

  Elliot led Michelle into the kitchen where she met Öndóttr. He shook her hand and introduced himself. “But you can call me Ando, they all do,” he said looking at Elliot and Kahl. They nodded in agreement.

  “Would it be rude if I asked where your accent is from?” Michelle asked Ando. He answered proudly that he was Scandinavian, originally from Norway, and also the talented chef for the night. Michelle told him that she could smell whatever it was that he was cooking all the way upstairs. She marveled to herself that despite almost drowning in the sea, she still hadn’t lost her craving for seafood. Ando told Michelle that he would be honored if she would eat with them, and asked Michelle to come see what he had been preparing. Michelle joined him, walking away from Elliot and Kahl as if they weren’t even there. The two looked at one another, amused, and Kahl spoke to Elliot in Aramaic, teasing him that Michelle was not in the palm of his hand as he thought she might be. Elliot answered back that he didn’t even want her there to begin with. But Kahl didn’t stick around long enough to hear what Elliot had to say, leaving him as he turned to follow Michelle.

  Ando was showing Michelle how he had marinated fish in white wine and cider vinegar, telling her that the dish would not be ready until it was very cold. He then showed her the three large abalones that Elliot had brought back with him from the beach. Michelle looked back at Elliot who was leaning against the kitchen entryway, obviously entertained by Ando’s food show. Michelle raised her eyes questioningly, but Elliot just smiled and she smiled back. It was obvious that everything felt different when there was a woman around. Elliot loved his friends and had known them for many years, enough years to feel that they were his family, but with Michelle’s energy in the house it actually felt like home, a real home. Was he crazy for even thinking such notions, he wondered to himself? Hadn’t he lived through enough misery?

  On any given day the guys ate whenever they were hungry. No one sat together for a meal unless it was planned ahead. But with Michelle there, Ando wouldn’t let any of them touch the food, insisting that they had to sit at the table and eat like a real dinner. Yes, there was something about women that brought light into a room, an excitement and cheerfulness. Had he missed it, Elliot asked himself as he sat down across from Michelle, who was glowing despite all her bruises. Ando brought over the abalone chowder while Kahl was still deep-frying battered abalone steaks. Once everyone finally sat down to eat, it felt natural for all of them, Michelle included, to talk about ordinary things like the latest movies or music. Every once in a while, Michelle would look up at Elliot and he would do the same to her, but they didn’t say anything to one another.

  For Michelle, things couldn’t have been more fantastic. She was well fed and cared for, sitting amidst the most handsome guys she had ever seen, anywhere. And best of all, Elliot seemed more relaxed and he even smiled at her once in a while. Ando was something of an enigma to her. He was a bit stiff, but when he talked about fish and cooking it was like watching a small child describing the first ice cream sundae they have ever had. She should have guessed he was Scandinavian, as he was unusually tall and wide with cool blue eyes, and light blond hair. He also had exceptionally fair skin and a pronounced angular jaw. Michelle thought that he was like a model for the Nordic god look, even if she was just generalizing.

  Once the meal was finished, Michelle helped Ando with the dishes while Elliot took out the trash. He enjoyed fish as much as any of them, but didn’t like to let its smell linger for too long. While helping put the dishes away, Michelle suddenly remembered that she hadn’t fed Crumb.

  “What day is this?” Michelle asked Ando in a worried voice. He had to think about it for a while before he told her that he thought it was Friday, but he wasn’t sure.

  “What do you mean you’re not sure?” a very confused Michelle asked him.

  “Well, it could be Friday, but it could also be Saturday.”

  “Saturday!” Michelle cut him off. “I need to go, no
w! My cat hasn’t eaten since Thursday morning when my parents left.”

  Michelle ran upstairs, grabbed her backpack and sped back downstairs ignoring everything, even her own pain. Elliot asked her what all the running was about, especially in her condition? Michelle answered that Crumb hadn’t eaten for two days, and how scared and lonely he must be. She had to go, now.

  Elliot explained to her that it was only Friday evening, and asked her if she was planning to walk home barefoot. That’s right, Michelle thought, she had lost her shoes in the water. Could he maybe give her a ride, she asked? But Elliot told her that Xander had taken the Thunderbird and he had no idea when he would be back, so either she would have to wait or borrow a pair of shoes from him.

  “Don’t you have your own car?” Michelle asked Elliot as they walked back to her house. Elliot told her that he had sold his car a month before moving to Willow’s Creek, and he was gearing up to buy a new one soon.

  “Where did you move from?” Michelle wanted to know.

  Elliot told her that he and the rest of the guys at the school had lived in Italy for about three years. Michelle was confused about why all of them would live together over there? By this time, she had realized that the Hekademos Learning Center was no ordinary school. Elliot described it as a safe house of sorts, where students and past students could always stop by and stay if they liked. They all moved around a lot, he explained. But Michelle was still thinking about the ‘safe house’ statement, meaning safe from what, she wondered? Elliot knew that it would take time for Michelle to understand the whole story and its complexities; it wasn’t going to be a ten-minute talk. He decided to save the more intricate facts for another day, or maybe he could still get away with giving her only part of the whole truth.

  By the time they reached Michelle’s house she was weary and sore. She had refused to let Elliot carry her through the woods, and suffered for her stubbornness as she walked slowly and in pain wearing a pair of his boots. Michelle needed to rest. Her body had been through so much abuse the previous day that it was going to need bed-rest for a few more days to fully recover. As they entered the house, Michelle went straight to the kitchen and gave Crumb food and fresh water. Elliot stood by the front door and seemed to feel uncomfortable stepping inside.

  “You can come in. It’s not like you haven’t been here before,” Michelle said to him. Elliot walked into the living room and looked around while Michelle watched him intently, slowly lowering her bruised body into her dad’s favorite armchair. Elliot’s boots slipped off her feet and made a loud thud sound as they hit the floor.

  “Elliot, I thank you for everything you’ve done to take care of me, but are you ever going to tell me the truth, or is lying one of your hobbies too?” she asked without betraying any of her emotions. Elliot swallowed hard and sat down on the corner of the couch to face her. He knew that he had to make a choice, to either tell her everything, or just walk away and never see her again.

  “I’m not like you Michelle. I am very different from most people,” Elliot said, looking straight into Michelle’s eyes so she could see that he was being sincere. Michelle wasn’t surprised; she already knew that, but to hear Elliot say those words gave her great relief. She wanted to know how and why he was different. He told her that he and everyone at the school had physical abilities that other humans did not possess. She asked him if he was gifted, or if he was even human at all?

  “I don’t know what I am, any more than you know exactly what you are,” he answered. Michelle gave out a little nervous laugh and replied that she knew exactly what she was. Elliot asked her to tell him.

  “I’m a human being. A girl living in California.”

  “So you have been told and labeled, but by who? By other humans such as yourself,” he answered for her. Elliot asked that if people knew exactly who and what they were, then why did they constantly continue searching for more and more answers. Why did archaeologists and paleontologists search the vast world for evidence of the so-called ‘beginning’ of humanity? Why were bones of ancient hominids studied and scrutinized to see where they fit into human evolution. Why the search for the elusive missing link? Why did historians keep probing further and further back into time? Why did theologists and other religious scholars search the Bible and other ancient texts, even clay tablets? What were they all looking for if the answers were already known? Michelle had never thought about such subjects in quite those terms. She had always assumed that people searched for things out of curiosity. It was what they did for fun, for their job, for…

  Michelle looked at Elliot. “I understand what you’re saying, but what does that have to do with you?”

  “I’m still searching, just like everyone else. All of us at the school are, and there are others out there.” Now Michelle really didn’t understand. Was Elliot an archaeologist or a researcher? What did he mean by ‘searching’. Elliot stood up and walked over to where Michelle was sitting. He asked her to give him one of her hands, and she did. Michelle was curious and a little apprehensive about what was going to happen next, but she was also just happy to be touching him. He was back and he was with her. Elliot raised her shirtsleeve to uncover a large bruise on her forearm. In an instant his eyes began to change their hue, and Michelle saw his pupils radiating iridescent sparks of color. She had seen the strange sight before, but never so close up; it was mesmerizing. Elliot closed his eyes, and after a few seconds Michelle began to feel a warm sensation traveling from his fingertips to hers, then all the way up her arm. She remembered that he had done something similar to her leg when she hurt it from the fall. The warmth lessened Michelle’s pain. The bruise was still there but it was no longer causing such discomfort. After a few seconds, Elliot let go of her hand and looked at her.

  “How did you do that? What did you do?” Michelle asked in amazement.

  “I instructed your blood cells to release more oxygen around the bruise, which will accelerate the healing. I also ordered your brain to release larger amounts of pain reducing neurotransmitters like endorphins, enkephaline, and GABA.

  “What do you mean instructed them? Like they speak English?” she wanted to know. Elliot explained that he wasn’t really talking to them; it was more like willing them. He had studied medicine and knew the essentials of human physiology. But it was his own body that could pick up on the different energies of the neurotransmitters. He just stimulated the sites with electromagnetic energy.

  “Aren’t you too young to be a doctor?” Michelle asked. And Elliot told her that he wasn’t. “So you’re some kind of super healer. Wow. How did you find out you can do this? Wait, shouldn’t you helping everyone?” Michelle said excitedly, and got off the armchair as if she had healed completely. Elliot told her that he had helped plenty of people already, but it wasn’t him that healed the body; it was the body’s own remedial mechanisms that did the job. He told her that he did have some control over living organisms, and even some other things that contained immense amounts of energy, but he couldn’t cure someone from cancer; that was beyond his powers. Michelle started to get a little uncomfortable because everything he was telling her was all starting to sound like madness. She backed away, and Elliot showed a twinge of sadness.

  “Are you an alien?” she asked, freaking out.

  “No!” Elliot answered, stepping towards the front door.

  Michelle knew that she had hurt his feelings. She followed him. “Are you just psychic or something?” she asked, grasping at his shirt. Elliot looked at Michelle’s hand on his arm and felt conflicted. Part of him wanted to stay with her and tell her everything, but another part of him could see that she was too young to deal with his reality. Without turning to face her, he told her that he wasn’t psychic. He couldn’t read people’s minds, although he could sense their general state of being. Michelle took her hand off his arm. “Then what are you sensing from me right now?” she asked, nervous that he might sense that she didn’t want him to leave.

  “You are
scared, scared of me, but you are curious, and your heart is beating faster then a few moments ago, which means that you’re nervous, and slightly panicked.” Elliot turned to face her. Michelle felt self-conscious because he was right. She was scared of him, even though he had saved her life just one day earlier. She tried to calm herself down and think more rationally. She didn’t want to hurt Elliot’s feelings, not ever.

  “I guess I am a little nervous,” Michelle said, apologizing.

  “And why shouldn’t you be? I am, after all, not like you, and I do things that are impossible for normal people. I’m not like other human beings, and I never will be, so I guess you’re looking at a creature different than yourself.”

  “Then what are you?” she wanted to know.

  Elliot looked at the floor, then back up at Michelle. He had already said more than he had meant to for one evening, and he didn’t want to give the poor girl nightmares, especially after all she had already been through. He gently placed his hands on Michelle’s shoulders. “Michelle, I don’t want you to be scared of me. You can call me a freak, and it wouldn’t really be wrong because compared to you, I am. But don’t think of me as something frightening, like a monster. Honestly, I really don’t know exactly what I am. None of us at the school has ever come up with a solid answer. And I… I have personally been searching for that answer for thousands of years.”